MBD debt collectors.

So if I don't pay my credit card and deny that I owe them for 3 years, my debt will fall away? :confused:
 
abzo said:
So if I don't pay my credit card and deny that I owe them for 3 years, my debt will fall away? :confused:
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Lol, not quite! That gym contract or account you opened at Identity when you were 18 and never paid because you were financially irresponsible etc gets sold to people like MBD, you change jobs and addy and they cannot get hold of you...10 years down the line, you get a call from a very friendly consultant that just wants to help you, when you ask wtf, things turn nasty. The 500 bucks you originally owed has now become 10k with all the legal fees owed after they charge you for every letter sent to the old address, every SMS or phone call to your old telenumber covering a number of years etc blah. A lot of people get a fright and offer to pay up...and then your nightmare begins. What most don't know is that after 3 years, you cannot be held liable for the debt if you haven't agreed that you actually owe the money...so if you get a call after the 3 year period, you just mention the prescription act and that's that however, if you say things like oh yes, I forgot about that debt..that would be seen as a verbal agreement to start paying up.

This does not apply to any state owned entity, tv license, bond and banks I think..also if the creditor was granted a judgement against you in the 3 year period prior to you being contacted about the debt.

Hope this makes sense :)
 
Ps: if you stop paying your credit card, the bank will screw you sideways! :D
 
MBD Attorneys used a clever trick to make me "revive" a prescribed debt that is 15 years old.
The method they used was this;

I have a judgment against me from Standard Bank from 15 years ago that I pay diligently. My debt has been resold twice and the banking details have changed. MBD have changed banks before and sent me details via SMS as to the new banking details.

On the 24th July this year, they sent me an SMS stating "Banking Details as Follows". They changed from FNB to Standard Bank with a new reference number . So I paid my next payment into that account with the "new" ref.

Then on the 24th August I received another SMS stating "Banking Details as Follows" Still Standard Bank BUT my OLD reference number. So once again, I paid as instructed.

Immediately after this the barrage of calls started. It was verbal abuse. They accused me of not paying my account. I was dumfounded as I always pay and have never missed a month in 15 years. I could not get a word in the way he was shouting.

A few days later, I got an email with an attachment. Opened the file and it is a R5 000 debt from Standard Bank dated 2005. I have had no dealings with that bank since the 1999 judgement.

I have never been summoned or even been told of this "new" debt. Then it struck me. They conned me to revive a prescribed dept by making a payment into it.

Now they keep phoning at all times of the day and night saying it is not prescribed anymore and I must pay. They have sent me a legal looking form stating that they are to take legal action against me.

I know nothing about this account but now must pay it.
 
Thanks for that. Wish I had taken more debt when I was younger and defaulted on it. Curse me for being so responsible :(
 
abzo said:
So if I don't pay my credit card and deny that I owe them for 3 years, my debt will fall away? :confused:
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No not quite so. Once you stop paying, the bank will start proceedings asap. They will not wait for 3 years. You will get summoned within months. Then you stuck with it.
 
Marco, it may pay you to consult with your own lawyer because you are going to land up paying this old debt forever. They don't seem to like it when you threaten them with lawyers and quite frankly, if I were you...I would tell them to go fluck themselves and not pay a blue cent towards that old debt! However, the endless harassment could wear a person down which is what I think they count on. I see it daily with my colleague and he also sits with speaker phone on sometimes so we can all hear how these call centre people carry on like lunatics demanding money. It's a disgrace!

Lol@ Abzo...Yar...silly boy! :p you could have got fit and worn the latest clothes for nothing!!!!
 
Well they conned me to revive the account so the Prescription Act does not apply to me anymore. But:

Government Notice. Council For Debt Collectors Act 1998. Code of Conduct.
Schedule 3 states this:

A debt collector shall not deliberately lie about, or misrepresent any fact, truth, instruction or mandate in any way, with the intention of benefiting such a debt collector.

Did they not breach this? I got conned to pay a debt that I don't have.
 
Also remember that a creditor cannot claim more than double. If you, for example, borrowed R10,000 then the max the creditor can claim back is R20,000. So if you take say 50 years to pay it back then the max you may be charged is another R10,000.

So all the interest and charges may not be more than the initial amount. So the max you can be forced to pay back is double and nothing more, no matter how long it takes and no matter what the cost (for the creditor) to collect on such debt. There is a saying for this in law but I cannot remember the Latin term now.

Many creditors are unethical and will keep on loading interest and any charges they can think of and by doing so get debtors to pay back up to 3 times the original amount if not more.
 
marco said:
Well they conned me to revive the account so the Prescription Act does not apply to me anymore. But:

Government Notice. Council For Debt Collectors Act 1998. Code of Conduct.
Schedule 3 states this:

A debt collector shall not deliberately lie about, or misrepresent any fact, truth, instruction or mandate in any way, with the intention of benefiting such a debt collector.

Did they not breach this? I got conned to pay a debt that I don't have.
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I would say they did - and don't admit that you paid the original debt.
 
marco said:
Well they conned me...
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I think you mentioned before that the bank did obtain a judgement on the debt in question. If that is the case then they can collect on that debt for the next 30 years. Prescription does not apply where legal action has been taken within the 3 years from the date the debt was first incurred.

Prescription only comes into play if 'nothing' has happened for three years i.e. you did not pay and the bank took no action. The rational behind this is that it will be difficult for the bank to go to the courts after three years to get a judgement. The court will just say but you had three years to do this, now its a bit late.

Any form of legal action to recover the debt in those three years throws prescription out the window. Many think prescription applies in the case where the bank gets a judgement and then do noting for three years. This is not the case. The bank can get a judgement and then do nothing for 10 years if they wish. A judgement is a judgement and it stands for 30 years. So they can start hounding you any time within that 30 years.
 
No MKF. I have never had a judgement for this account. I REALLY don't know where this comes from. Why did Standard Bank not notify me of this 16 years ago?
If it is R5K now then it can only be a small amount 16 years ago that built up massive interest. I closed my account at Standard Bank 16 years ago when I was requested to hand in my card for destruction.
 
MKFrost said:
Also remember that a creditor cannot claim more than double. If you, for example, borrowed R10,000 then the max the creditor can claim back is R20,000. So if you take say 50 years to pay it back then the max you may be charged is another R10,000.

So all the interest and charges may not be more than the initial amount. So the max you can be forced to pay back is double and nothing more, no matter how long it takes and no matter what the cost (for the creditor) to collect on such debt. There is a saying for this in law but I cannot remember the Latin term now.

Many creditors are unethical and will keep on loading interest and any charges they can think of and by doing so get debtors to pay back up to 3 times the original amount if not more.
Click to expand...

In duplum.
 
marco said:
No MKF. I have never had a judgement for this account. I REALLY don't know where this comes from. Why did Standard Bank not notify me of this 16 years ago?
If it is R5K now then it can only be a small amount 16 years ago that built up massive interest. I closed my account at Standard Bank 16 years ago when I was requested to hand in my card for destruction.
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I hope you have kept the SMS,s where they advised you the banking details had changed...this would definitely prove your case..and yes, you have been conned - big time!!!!! And I agree with Mk, don't admit you paid on the old account..as far as you are concerned, you don't know what they are talking about!
 
Not that I have any real info to add to this thread - just want to thank those, who have given helpful advise. It's good to know these things!
 
Sinbad said:
Moral high ground lost. Call recorded.
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Hopefully it is. When they play it back the magistrate will hear that I was provoked by their constant shouting and not letting me get a word in. This is abuse and harassment. Not allowed by the Debt Collectors Council.
 
Carol35 said:
I hope you have kept the SMS,s where they advised you the banking details had changed...this would definitely prove your case..and yes, you have been conned - big time!!!!! And I agree with Mk, don't admit you paid on the old account..as far as you are concerned, you don't know what they are talking about!
Click to expand...
As I said. They conned me into paying this old account and they have proof that I did so. The magistrate will see that I paid and revived the account.
Now I can only hope that he will rule that they conned me to do this.
 
Sinbad said:
In duplum.
Click to expand...

Just note that this rule is supposedly not applied as one would expect it to be applied. Given actual debt of R1000 one would expect that one should never have to pay more than R2000 in total.

Had a case recently where the attorney brushed it off like something minor when I asked about this specifically. In short, if I even remotely understood her correctly, they supposedly interpret in duplum like this ... Given actual handover debt of R2000 (R1000 actual debt PLUS R1000 interest+legal fees and whatnot already charged) one would expect that one should never have to pay more than R4000 (R2000 towards the actual debt and R2000 towards the new legal fees/interest) in total.

Does not matter if I misunderstood her, my query about an outstanding debt being more than double the original debt was brushed off leading me to believe I understood her correctly. A R1000 liability can become a R4000 one without much trouble.
 
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